Guys check out pixelfed. Its better than Instagram.Same concept of fediverse as Lemmy and Mastodon.
Website: https://pixelfed.org
Servers: https://pixelfed.org/servers
Even has a android client called pixeldroid on fdroid.
I love the idea of this, but the only reason I check Instagram is to see what my friends are posting, which I couldn’t do on an alternative, sadly.
Same for me. Same with Snap. I’ve never used SnapChat before, but once I actively went to parties it’s impossible to not use it.
I use Instagram (well, Instander) for the bands I like. I wish I didn’t have to but it’s useful for these reasons. Ditched Facebook but unfortunately can’t loose them both 😤
Instagram differs from Reddit in the sense that most people use Instagram because that’s where their friends and family are. You’re posting more personal things there. An alternative doesn’t really work for most users if no one they know is using it. Good luck with the push, though.
Yeah this is the issue I have. I wouldn’t even be on instagram if it my friends weren’t on it. Pixelfed has a much tougher road to snatch users than a place like Lemmy or even Mastodon for that reason. If everyone I know hopped over with me (which let’s be real, I would never be able to get everyone to do that because they would run into the same issue with their own friend networks) then i’d gladly move over.
I like pixelfed. I have a pixelfed account, and feature-wise, I see how it could replace someone’s use of instagram, but personally, I was never on instagram for its features. I was on instagram because I made friends in real life who I couldn’t keep in touch with in absolutely any other way. Meanwhile, I am on pixelfed because I like the idea of a federated social media platform based around images, but I have zero connections on that platform.
I posted to it twice. Then, I realized that, unless I could convince the people that I knew on instagram to join pixelfed, it would never be the same experience, so I stopped. I would just rather post pictures to my mastodon account which has more reach than my pixelfed. The concept of an image based social media platform is less compelling when you don’t know anyone there, and this is what Meta is banking on.
Sure, there are alternatives to Instagram that are better, but all of my IRL friends & family are on Meta platforms already and don’t want to leave 🤷♀️, so what’s the point? Even if I manage to convince someone that it is important, they might bail at some point because they can’t convince the people they know from instagram to join the alternative, and that’s how it is all down the line: friction, friction, friction.
Here’s a good reason. Since Facebook likes to spy on you, I put Instagram on my work profile on Android, effectively sandboxing it. I’d had the account for several years at this point. Just the other day, it told me that my account had been flagged for violating the rules and trying to access data I wasn’t supposed to have access to. It asked me to upload an image of myself with a code written on a piece of paper to prove I wasn’t a bot, and they still deleted my profile and said I was acting as a bot and that I could not appeal the decision or talk to a human about it.
I agree it’s a bit of a pain to get people to join these nerd apps, but man, it beats dealing with non-interactive bot/algorithm, punishing you for fighting back against having your information stolen.
I think you’re spot on. I use Instagram for one niche sport I do, hydrofoil surfing. Everyone who foils is on there, and as a result the development speed of this 5-year-old sport is incredible. Someone in Australia invents a new maneuver, posts a video of it, and a few hours later while they’re sleeping people in America are trying it out.
None of that is happening on pixelfed. I tried it out too, and, meh. There’s just nothing interesting on there, and it’s too complicated to explain to non techies. So there’s a huge barrier to entry and no compelling reason to surmount it. Heck, I have an advanced degree in informatics and I barely made it over the choose an instance wall. My perma-stoned surfing buddies don’t stand a chance.
Instagram also has a full account data export feature, and Pixelfed can import from that data. When I used it earlier this week it seemed to ignore my latest posts, which use the webp format instead of jpg or png. But since the import is processed server-side once they resolve that I should be able to import from the same zip and get just those missing posts.
I didn’t know this was possible! Thanks for sharing, will give this a try.
Hate the be a downer but I can’t see anyone but “tech savvy” people joining this. I can’t even get my sister to verify her Zelle account to get money I sent her. Having to choose a server is going to be wildly confusing to most people.
Out of curiosity how would you choose a server? I joined Lenny.ml as it was the first one I saw.
I joined after the Apollo debacle started with Reddit, so I joined what had the most users at that moment and it was lemmy.world. But I already had a good idea of how these federated apps work, so I wasn’t super worried about which I picked. I imagine a random normie instagram user would delete the app as soon as they saw the list of servers, if they even got that far.
Well, to be fair, Zelle sucks, but point taken.
I don’t really understand how that would work. I’m on Instagram because I follow some specific artists, collectives, companies, labels, etc., and secondarily for friends. If those are not on Pixelfed, what is there to follow?
Although Lemmy suffers of quite a content draught on less populated communities, it still works like Reddit since you follow topics, not people.
The only reason I use Instagram is to see my friends’ statuses. I don’t use Snapchat, so it’s basically the only way for me to see what others are doing. Reddit didn’t really have any personal aspect, so it was easy to switch to Lemmy. But I don’t think I’m gonna leave Instagram anytime soon.
Maybe I should give it a try. I’ve been on instragram for like 10 years and I’m quite proud of the quality of content on my page (smartphone nature photography) but I only have like 23 followers and posting there seems like talking to trees. Why even bother if people rather watch short videos instead of photos.
For some unsolicited advice, you could do better with networking on Instagram through hashtags, following similar people and browsing their work. I posted desolate building photos for 2-3 years and ended up with ~500 followers, which isn’t really much but a lot more than 23.
They have made the algorithm steadily worse over the years, though. Back in 2013-2014 people I knew from a niche art community ended up with 5-50k and since then it has slowed down a huge amount. People whose followers increased by 20,000 from 2014-2016 have increased by maybe 3,000 in the subsequent 7 years.
Yeah I’ve been using hashtags but probably incorrectly because I’m tagging what’s actually on the photo and not what the popular hashtags are. I’m also posting quite irregularly.
I’m not trying to grow a big audience or anything. I’ll keep taking photos for myself nevertheless but I’d also like to share the best ones with others but with intagram it just feels like waste of time. On twitter I post about just as often but there I have 1600 followers (of which a significant portion is bots though)
If you want people to see your work, you have to find the popular hashtags for your niche. Check out photos by people who post similar stuff and see what they use. For my stuff I could have labeled them #door #abandonedbuilding or #oldstorefront but the tags in popular use are more like #facadelovers #windowshiding and #ihavethisthingwithwalls.
They’re adding support to sign up to pixelfed with your mastodon account as well. Pretty neat.
https://mastodon.social/@dansup/110671802845980100Oh sweet!
Love PixelFed, I just like chronological and tag based systems. This way every user gets an equal opportunity to be seen. Unlike what’s happening with recommendation systems, where only a few super stars are pushed by the algorithms. If anyone like traditional illustrations, here’s my profile: https://pixelfed.social/i/web/profile/495699973550816234
I’m using Pixelffed to get replace Imgur and IG at the same time. One, it’s federated image site I can use to share image links on Lemmy. Two, while I haven’t found any of my social circle on there, it let’s me see all pictures posted throughout the Pixelfed fediverse while a lot from Mastodon. I like this feature because it helps me expand my exposure to users and images I wouldn’t have seen otherwise on IG.
Exactly what I’ve been looking for! Does it include photo editing tools?
I would need an app on the Play store though, my phone doesn’t allow sideloading.
Is it possible to install a custom ROM on your phone? Would never use one that does not allow anything as basic as side loading
No to the custom ROM option. It’s due to my employer’s security policy. I would also never pay for a phone that I couldn’t fully control and customise but… I didn’t have to pay for this one. The main cost is losing sideloading.
You use your work phone as your daily driver? 😕
Yes?
I mean no disrespect at all I am simply curious as to why you do that. Do you also use a work laptop as your own?
I used to do tech support and a whole lot of people used their work devices as their own and I just do not understand why.
I don’t use my work laptop as my personal one, i have a personal gaming PC and tablet. If i didn’t have my tablet i might temporarily use the work laptop for personal stuff when travelling, instead of buying a laptop just for that.
Reasons for using the work phone: i don’t need to spend a lot of money duplicating the hardware i already have for free; i don’t need to pay for a phone/data plan to service that second device; i don’t need to carry two phones around (since i need to have the work one anyway).
Any particular reason you have in mind why one should not use their work phone? Or why is this surprising to you? Also not meant disrespectfully, only trying to understand where you are coming from.
Thanks for the response. Its weird to me because it’s technically not yours and at any time the company could do a something that wipes it, asks for it back or does any number of things and you’d have to go through a lot to back up all your stuff. Or be out of luck if one day they decide to implement a policy that removes access to some app you like to use.
Not related to you in any way but I had this one lady who had a company phone and she went and got all these accessories and stuff and when we switched phones she was livid about all these things she bought. I felt bad for her but like…it’s not your phone lol.
What phone do you have?
It’s not so much the phone (Samsung S22) as that it’s controlled by my employer’s security policy (which prevents sideloading).
You’re using your work phone for personal leisure?
Yes, why not? It arrived with separate profiles for work and personal.
Are there any mobile apps for pixelfed?
PixelDroid is the main app for Pixelfed. It is not the official app, that is still in development.
You can also login to pixelfed from https://tusky.app
@Yoz I’ve been on Pixelfed for about a year; highly enjoyable. All the good of instagram without the celebrities and “influencers”. I also follow my Pixelfed account from my mastodon so I can boost to all of my mastodon followers as well.
What is there to do? Is it just meme accounts or did your friends start using it too?
I mostly use instagram to interact with IRL friends and follow some meme accounts, so I’m curious what this app even looks like if my friends aren’t on it.
What are some good places to follow on Pixelfed? I haven’t had much luck finding accounts that appeal to me. I’d love to replace Instagram, but their algorithm is so damn good, and I’m struggling to find stuff that compares (which I’d expect since it doesn’t hold the same “influencer” weight and has a smaller community to begin with)
